Determinacy

Affixes

Determinacy affixes are optional and occur in slot 2b.

┌────────────────────────────────────┬────────┐  
│ Abstract property                  │ oy / ʼ │  
│ Collective universal quantifier    │ ew     │  
│ Distributive universal quantifier  │ ıw     │  
│ Existential quantifier             │ uy     │  
│ Nonexistential quantifier          │ ïy     │  
│ Unary quantifierizer               │ ey     │  
└────────────────────────────────────┴────────┘  

◉ The Abstract Property-oy-⟫ or ⟪-ʼ-⟫ is essentially a shorthand for unary template clauses; it is comparable to an infinitive.

  • Ikeyéwa koyınepákı. / Ikeyéwa kʼınepákı.
      ı=      ke-   yéwa       k-  oy-  ı-   ne-   pákı
      ASR.SEN-2:DAT-√grateful  ACC-PROP-ERGᵢ-1:DAT-√help
    (I am) grateful to you for helping me.

This sentences means the same as ⟪Ikeyéwa koıtʼınepákı⟫ (using the ⟪⟫ subordinator), but unlike that latter, it does not open a subordinate clause.

For all noun roles, with the exception of the Discourse Pendent role, the Abstract Property can also be expressed as glottalization of the noun role consonant. ⟪kʼınepákı⟫ means therefore the same as ⟪koyınepákı⟫.

Scope prefixes

Optionally, a Scope prefix can precede a determinacy affixes.

┌────────────────────────┬────┐  
│ Middle scope (default) │ ∅  │  
│ High scope             │ aʼ │  
│ Low scope              │ ıʼ │ 
└────────────────────────┴────┘  

A high-scope determinacy will have logical scope over all other determinacies in the same clause.
A low-scope determinacy will conversely be below the scope of all other explicit determinacies, but still have higher scope than covert existential quantification of contentives lacking any overt determinacy marking.